UMUR
"Inside the Labyrinth of Depression" is the second demo recording by Finnish death metal act Disgrace. The demo was independently released in October 1990. It´s the band´s second 1990 demo recording as they had already released the "Beyond the Immortalized Existence" demo in February 1990. The original demo is probably hard to find today, but the material has been reissued along with the material from the other early releases by Disgrace on the compilation album "1990" (Big Money Recordings, November 2011).
Stylistically the four tracks on the 14:01 minutes long demo are a continuation of the filthy old school death metal style of the first demo (it´s maybe a little faster paced overall, but other than that the two demos have a similar sound). Disgrace are arguably greatly influenced by contemporary Carcass, and even more on this demo than on "Beyond the Immortalized Existence", but they still manage to put their own spin on the raw and savage death metal style they produce. One of the great featureds of Disgrace music is the pairing of the fast-paced brutal death metal parts with heavy and doomy death/doom parts, which is a great contrast in their music, which works wonders. The only part of "Inside the Labyrinth of Depression" which doesn´t work that well is the death´n´rolled short middle part on "Waves of Hypocrisy Seas", which features a blues rock guitar solo. I´m not sure who´s genius idea that was, but it´s arguably a bad choice.
Other than that mishap, "Inside the Labyrinth of Depression" is another strong demo release from Disgrace further stengthening their position as one of the seminal Finnish death metal acts from the early 90s. The demo also features a relatively well sounding production job, and overall it´s a good quality old school death metal demo. I don´t find it quite as convincing as the "Beyond the Immortalized Existence" demo, but it´s still a good quality release. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.